Daniel Marsh:
Is tradition merely interpreting that which has come before?
Tradition is that which has been handed down. All of the doctrinal teachings of Christianity were handed down by Tradition: the Divinity of Christ, the Trinity, the True Presence, the primacy of the Pope, purgatory, etc. All these teachings were taught by the apostles and passed on by way of Tradition. Some were passed on in writing, some orally.
St. Basil the Great: “Of the dogmas and messages persevered in the Church, some we possess from written teaching and others we receive from the Tradition of the Apostles, handed on to us in mystery. In respect to piety, both are of the same force. No one will contradict any of these, no one, at any rate, who is even moderately versed in matters ecclesiastical. Indeed, were we to try to reject unwritten customs as having no great authority, we would unwittingly injure the gospel in its vitals…” (Basil the Great - The Holy Spirit 27:66, 375AD)
Over the centuries, the Church has defined doctrines that have always been believed. In thus defining them they have brought greater clarity to what has always been held. For example: Christians always believed that the Eucharist is the body of Christ. That teaching was passed on through Tradition. But later, when it became necessary, the Church defined the matter and thus brought greater clarity to what had always been believed.
Tradition consists of those teachings that have been handed down from the apostles. That is basically what Tradition is.
Dogmas are those teachings of Tradition that have been defined by the Church.
There is an error of the modernists which has been condemend by the Church, but which is nevertheless alive and well today. The modernists claim that Tradition is not that which has been passed on by the apostles, but rather an ever changing and evolving interpretation of the truth. Since the modernists reject many of the dogmas of the faith, they have to find a way to justify it. They do so by claiming that the teachings of the Church change and evolve over time. They claim that Tradition is an every changing “interpretation” of the truth, rather than the unchangeable truth that has been passed on.
You ought to read the
Oath Against Modernism, which is available online, and which exposes the true meaning of Tradition.